Talk Murder To Me

The gruesome murders that began in May, 1980, locked the city in fear as brutally beaten bodies were found in culverts and ditches and young couples turned up dead in the trunks of cars. The rampage ended in October, 1981, when Anthony Cook was arrested in the shooting death of Realtor Peter Sawicki. However, 17 years would elapse before DNA linked the brothers to the other crimes. Evil Brothers: A True Crime Story, written by Frank Stiles, a retired Toledo Police detective who was the lead investigator during the killings, details the police investigation that ended in 2000 when confessions made by the Cooks cleared up eight cold-case murders and other unsolved crimes. “It was a scary time to be in Toledo,” recalled Mr. Stiles, who is chief investigator for the Lucas County prosecutor’s office. “I knew the streets would not be safe until we got these killers locked up.” It was eight years ago this week that Anthony and Nathaniel Cook were convicted in Lucas County Common Pleas Court for t